Printing-press



(No Model.) 2 SheetS Shee-t 1.

S. WHITLOUK.

PRINTING PRBSS..

Patented Mar. 1, 1898.

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 2.

S. WHITLOO K. PRINTING PRESS.

No. 599,990. Patented Mar. 1, 1898.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STURGES WVHITLOCK, OF SHELTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE \VHITLOCKMACHINE COMPANY, OF DERBY, CONNECTICUT.

PRINTING-PRESS.

SPECIFICATION formingart of Letters Patent No. 599,990, dated March 1,1898.

Application fil d November 25,1895. Serial No. 570,017. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STURGES WHITLooK, of Shelton, in the county ofFairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement inPrinting-Presses; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, in-

Figure 1, a view in side elevation of one form which a printing-pressconstructed in accordance with my invention may assume; Fig. 2, a brokenView, in front elevation, showing the transfer-shaft and the operatingconnections thereof; Fig. 3, a detail view, partly in transverse sectionand partly in elevation, showing the transfer and gripper shafts and oneof the transfer-arms and the gripper carried thereby; Fig. 4, a similarview, showing in particular the means employed for rocking thegripper-shaft on the line a b of Fig. 2; and Fig. 5, an enlarged planview showing the connection between the shaft M and the lever N, wherebythe lever is reciprocated.

My invention relates to an improvement in two-revolution printingpresses, .the object being to provide simple,compact,and effectivetransfer devices having comparatively few parts and constructed withparticular reference to convenience of access for attention and repair.I

With these ends in view my'invention consists in a two-revolutionprinting-press having as to its transfer devices certain details ofconstruction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafterdescribed, and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention I employ a press having a two-revolutionimpression-cylinder A, mounted on a cylinder-shaft A, j ournaled inboxes A all of any approved construction. One end of the shaft Aisprojected and receives a pinion B, which meshes into a gear C, mountedupon a shaft C, also carrying a cam D, having a cam-groove D in itsouter face for the reception of an antifriction-roller E, mounted upon apin E, carried by an arm E offsetting from the upper edge of a rack-armE hung for vertical oscillation upon a horizontally-arranged pivot Emounted in a portion of the frame of the printingpress. The forward endof the said arm carries a segmental rack E which in turn meshes into asegmental rack F, carried by an arm F, depending from a sleeve F rigidlysecured by means of a screw F to one end of the transfer-shaft G, whichis oscillated back and forth by the means described, whereby it derivesan oscillating movement from the rotary movement of the cylinder-shaftand rocks about one hundred and sixty degrees. The said transfer-shaft Gis furnished with a plurality of transfer-arms I-I, rigidly secured toit, and each provided with a pivotal gripper I, the lower end of whichcoacts, for gripping the paper, with the extreme outer end of thetransfer-arm, as shown in Fig. 3. For the purpose of simultaneouslyoperating all of the grippers I employ what I shall call a gripper-shaftJ, which extends through all of the transfer-arms, and is provided withas many short crank-arms J as there are grippers, the respectivecrank-arms being connected with the respective grippers by means oflinks J v For the purpose of, rocking or oscillating the gripper-shaft Iprovide it at one end with a lever K, Fig. 4:, one end of which carriesan antifriction-roller K, while the other end has pivotally connectedwith it a rod K encircled by a spring K the opposite end of whichimpinges, against an offset K formed upon the carrier-arm H, which islike the carrierarms Hin other respects,but designated by H todistinguish it therefrom. The said spring K exerts a constant effort toswing the lever and rock'the gripper-shaft J in such a manher as toengage its antifriction-roller K with the cam-face L of a cam L, theupper end of which is slotted toadapt it to embrace the projecting outerend of the transfer-shaft. The movement of the antifriction-roller Kover the cam-face L causes the lever K to move correspondingly and rockthe grippershaft, so as to open the grippers or move them away from thetransfer-arms; but the primary function of this spring is to hold thegrippers in their closed positions with respect to the saidtransfer-arms, as will appear later on. The said, cam is located at theupper end of an arm L rigidly secured by its lower end to ahorizontally-reciprocatin g cam-shaft M, which has bearing in a bracketM, secured to the machine-frame, and is engaged by the arm N of anoscillating operating-lever N, swinging upon a fixed stud N and providedwith a depending antifriction-roller N entering a circumferentialcam-groove 0, formed in a cam 0, mounted upon the shaft 0, and thereforedriven through the medium of the gear 0 and pinion B from thecylinder-shaft A. The said lever I is also connected by means of pins11, only one of which is shown, with the cylinder-gripper pins P, whichare actuated back and forth in the usual manner for the operation of thecylinder-grippers P, one of which is shown by broken lines in Fig. 1.IVhen the cam-shaft M is moved horizontally inward, the cam-face L isbrought into position to coact with the antifriction-roll K of the leverK, so as to rock the gripper-shaft J against the tension of the spring Kwhereby the grippers are opened. The cam-shaft M is then movedhorizontally outward to clear the cam L and its face L from theantifriction-roll K of the lever K, whereby the said spring K is allowedto reassert itself in closing the grippers.

The fly mechanism,which takes the printed sheets from the transfermechanism, may be of any approved construction. As herein shown, itemploys fly-grippers Q and Q and comprises two fly-arms Q only one ofwhich is shown, the said arm being constructed at its lower end with asegmental rack Q meshing into a fixed straight rack Q and having whatmay be termed a movable fulcrum Q playing back and forth in a horizontalslot Q", formed in a bracket Q The said fulcrum is connected by a link Qwith the upper end of an operating-lever Q ,connected by a link Q with acrank Q driven from a main shaft Q which is also connected bya pinion Qwith a large gear Q which drives the cylinder-shaft A.

In the operation of the machine the oscillation of the transfer-shaftswings the transfergrippers through an arc the ends of which areapproximately represented by the points a and a in Fig. 1. When in therevolution of the cylinder A its grippers bring the printed sheet toabout the point a the transfer-grippers are presented at that point andtake the sheet, after which the oscillation of the transfer-shaft swingsthe transfer-grippers around in position for the fly-grippers to take itfrom them at about the point a After this the transfer-grippers continuetheir movement and swing to the point a, when they reverse and swingback to the point a. This movement of the grippers from the point a tothe point a is required for an easy stoppage of the grippers.

I am enabled to operate my improved devices with rapidity, inasmuch asinstead of having to rotate the transfer-grippers through an entirecircle I move them only through the arc of a circle, thus effecting aneconomy of time and handling the sheets less. I also secure an importantadvantage by my construction, which enables the parts of the transfermechanism to be readily got at for attention and repair.

Still another important advantage secured by my improved combination ofa single tworevolution cylinder, an oscillating transfer mechanism, anda fly is the avoidance of jamming or marring the edges of the printedsheets at the time they are delivered to the fly mechanism, thisresulting from the fact that the greater speed of the cylinder isreduced and virtually conformed to the slower speed of the fly throughthe medium or agency of the oscillating transfer mechanism,which, so tospeak, slows down the speed of the sheets from the speed of the cylinderto the speed of the fly, which, when it takes the sheets by their edges,is moving at a speed about in unison with the speed of the sheets. Itmay be mentioned here that at the time the transfer mechanism removesthe printed sheets from the cylinder it is moving at about the samespeed as the cylinder, but that it slows down,s0 that at the time itdelivers the printed sheets to the fly it is moving at about the rate atwhich the fly is moving at that time, for it must also be rememberedthat the fly slows down in speed preparatory to taking the printedsheets from the transfer mechanism.

It may be noted here that the cam D is relied upon to actuate theoscillating transfer mechanism in the manner above stated, so that thesaid mechanism will act in the concert set forth with theimpression-cylinder and the fly.

It is apparent that in carrying out my invention some changes in theconstruction shown and described may be made, and I have already statedthat I may employ any fly mechanism which is adapted to coact with myimproved transfer mechanism.

I am aware that two-revolution cylinders are old, that oscillatingtransfer mechanisms are old, and that oscillating fly mechanisms areold, and do not, therefore, claim any of those instrumentalitiesbroadly. I am also aware that it is old to combine an oscillatingtransfer mechanism with a two-revolution cylinder and that it is old tocombine an oscillatin g transfer mechanism with an oscillating fly. I donot, therefore, claim either of those combinations broadly.

Having fully'described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is,*

1. In a two-revolution printing-press, the combination with a singletwo-revolution cylinder, making one revolution for printing the sheetand another revolution for delivering the same; of an oscillatingtransfer mechanism which removes the printed sheets from the saidtwo-revolution cylinder at a point in front of the same and near the topthereof; and a fly constructed and arranged to receive ICC i the printedsheets directly from the said oscil lating transfer mechanism at a pointin front of the said cylinder, the oscillating transfer combination witha single two-revolution cylinder making one revolution for printing thesheet and one revolution for delivering the same; of an oscillatingtransfer mechanism including a transfer-shaft, means for oscillating thesame, transfer-arms carried by the said shaft, transfer=gripperspivotally c011- nected with the said arms, a gripper-shaft, and meansfor oscillating the gripper-shaft to operate the grippers which take theprinted sheets from the said cylinder at a point in front of the sameand near the top thereof; and a fly for taking the printed sheetsdirectly from. the grippers of the said oscillatin g transfer mechanismat a point in front of the cylinder, the oscillating transfer mechanismswinging beyond the point last mentioned so as to come to an easy stopbefore reversing, and reducing the greater speed of the cylinder to theslower speed of the fiy.

3. In a two-revolution printing-press, the

combination with a single two-revolution cylinder provided with grippersand making one revolution for printing the sheet and another revolutionfor delivering the same; of oscillatingtransfer mechanism including arocking transfer-shaf t, transfer-arms carried by the saidshaft,'grippers pivotally connected to the said arms, and taking theprinted sheets from the said cylinder at a point in front of the sameand near the top thereof, an oscillating grip per-shaft mounted in thesaid arms, and a cam for oscillating the gripper-shaft; anactuating-lever operating the said cam, and also operating the grippersof the said cylinder and a fly constructed and arranged to take theprinted sheets directly from the said grippers of the oscillatingtransfer mechanism at a point in front of the cylinder, the oscillatingtransfer mechanism swinging beyond the said point so as to come to aneasy stop before reversing, and reducing the greater speed of thecylinder to the slower speed of the fly.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

STURGES WHITLOGK.

Witnesses:

FRED. O. EARLE, J. H. SHUMWAY.

